Micscape
Video Gallery
A new series
for 1999
Protozoa Portraits
video clips taken by Edward Cowen, UK
(Compiled for the Web by Dave
Walker)
Videos in lower quality 'animated
gif' format.
Click
here for 'avi' version if your computer supports 'avi'.
In the third of this Video Gallery series we show two video clips taken
by Edward Cowen, UK. The video clips show two fascinating aspects of protozoa.
One shows the movement of cilia and the other shows the extending pseudopod
of a species like Amoeba. One uses darkfield illumination and the other
phase contrast. Both forms of illumination can be very effective for showing
detail in such organisms.
The second sequence uses Edward's home
adapted phase contrast outfit. This setup was also used to video the
Spirochaete bacteria shown in last
month's Video gallery.
The web video clips have to be compressed to keep the files small so
losses cf. the original video are inevitable.
 |
Original video clip four seconds at 5
frames/second, continuous loop. Taken using darkfield illumination.
This version has a limited 256 colour palette.
This first video clip shows the cilia movement of a
ciliated species of protozoa. The cilia are tiny beating hairs often of
different length which are used in locomotion and for catching food. The
water currents created bring food to the protozoa for ingestion.
Notice the collapsing contractile vacuole in the lower
middle of the frame. These periodically form within the protoplasm, swell
with water, contract and collapse. They discharge the water collected to
the outside of the cell and are used to control the osmotic balance in
the cell. |
. |
Original video clip two seconds at 5 frames/second,
continuous loop. Taken using phase contrast illumination.
This version has a limited 256 colour palette.
This second video clip shows the extending pseudopod
of a protozoan like an Amoeba. The granular contents of the protoplasm
are seen as the protozoan moves forward. |
Comments to Edward Cowen
welcomed.
© Microscopy UK or their contributors.
Published in the June 1999 edition of Micscape Magazine.
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Editor,
via the contact on current Micscape Index.
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